The Wellington suburbs of Seatoun and Kelburn have joined Oriental Bay/Roseneath in the capital's $1 million property club.
The view towards the Hutt Valley from the Wellington suburb of Roseneath. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Quotable Value figures released today valued houses in the suburbs at an average of $1 million.
They showed the average value of a property in Wellington was $597,000, with homes worth 6.6 percent more than they were in 2012. The average value in Auckland was $918,153.
QV operations manager David Nagel said to expect more suburbs in Wellington to become $1m areas, and he was not surprised by the Kelburn and Seatoun figures.
"They were knocking on the door three years ago to that elite club, and no doubt we will see a number of other suburbs that move over into that club as well," he said.
"Comparing with international cities or Auckland city, its still very favourable in terms of affordability."
Other suburbs edging towards the $1 million average include Thorndon and Mount Victoria, where homes are valued on average at $874,000 and $877,000 respectively.
Ted Jewett has been a real estate agent in Seatoun for more than 40 years and said his company the average executive home in the suburb was probably worth about $1.2m-$1.3m.
"You'd get four bedrooms, two bathrooms, probably three living rooms, garaging and a nice bit of section or a lovely seaview."
A mansion would cost $3m-$4m.
The Quotable Value data showed increases in value of 5-10 percent in most areas of Wellington.
The most affordable suburb to buy in was Tawa west, with an average of $397,000 - up increased 7 percent since 2012.
Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said she was pleased with the overall rises in property values, and that the Capital remained an affordable area to live.
"We see across all of the different suburbs, we've got a great variety of different housing in Wellington, whether its single person apartments or whether its five bedroom mansions with a view.
"We think it's very sustainable and that there has not been a huge change between suburbs," she said.
The new valuations would not affect this year's rates but there would be what the council called some "minor shuffling" with next year's rates.
While the value of houses was up, the average price of an apartment fell 3.2 percent to $431,000.
